The challenge

Supply heating for several buildings at a remote site

It’s always a challenge to heat construction sites, but for a company working in the remote and chilly oil sands area of Canada, the extreme conditions made it particularly challenging. The company had been using old diesel-fuelled Frost Fighters but these had to be located outside the building and gave patchy heat, needed to refuel led every six to seven hours, and often resulted in spillages which meant the need for yet another environmental report. Added to that, the eleven buildings were scattered across a large area and were of differing sizes so a one-size-fits-all approach wasn’t possible. Could we come up with a better heating strategy?

Project fact file

11
buildings

Under construction that needed heating

25
heaters

Used across the entire location

-20
°C

Average winter temperature

The solution

A tailored heating and power package

It was like doing a jigsaw puzzle. We had to step back and look at all the gaps and the bits that fit together and come up with a better plan. We did this by supplying a total of 25 heaters and nine generators strategically placed at the required locations around the site. Smaller buildings received smaller kW units and the larger buildings got the larger capacity units. And because our low-emission heaters were designed to be placed inside buildings – something the old Frost Fighters couldn’t do – we could use the existing heat circulating inside the building to keep temperatures at an optimal level while reducing costs.

the aggreko difference

Our strategic planners love to solve a complex puzzle.

The impact

Reliable heating and lower fuel costs

Our new strategy meant that all eleven buildings got reliable heat throughout winter. Fuel costs were reduced, and the company could keep to their construction schedule. Our electrically powered heaters, designed to be placed inside buildings due to low emissions, proved to be safer and more efficient than existing site heaters, and not only solved the immediate heating challenge but also eliminated the customer’s ongoing year-after-year battle with heating. Because we provided a customised and scalable solution, heating could be scaled down with the project and dismantled at the end of construction.

“Aggreko’s special design was able to meet the unique demands of the oil sands project, while on-site technical support provided the kind of expertise that only comes through experience.”